Cannondale Touring 2 adventure bike

The Cannondale Touring 2 may be a touring bike in name, but it's really a candidate for an 'everything but racing' bike. It's intelligently designed as a pothole-basher or long-distance ride, with a lot of thoughtful touches, though it's a bit under-specced for the price.

The bike proudly wears its Touring name, harking back to Cannondale's roots, but it is noticeably on trend as a gravel bike with frankly huge tyres and disc brakes.

With this test running over the winter, I didn't have a change to load up and go touring; instead I treated it as an urban and trail all-rounder.

The 40mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres invited me away off to explore the local byways and bridleways. And, erm, footpaths. Naughty, I know, but fun. On a damp day the shallow tread did have shortcomings away from tarmac, but the bike was stable enough to handle momentary losses of traction. The huge clearance avoided problems with getting gummed up. On the road the heavy tyres did feel like hard work, but they smoothed out potholes and cracked fen roads like a dream. With such big chambers it's hard to assess Cannondale's claims about the vibration damping properties of the frame itself; the tyres surely do most of that work.

One problem with some older disc-braked bikes (like my own commuter Kona Dew Drop) is that the front quick release needs to be over-tight to hold the wheel secure under braking. While a through-axle is the ideal solution, Cannondale have gone for a more forward-facing and quite deep fork end. This works very well, and even with the quick release open the wheel stays put.

I took it on a bit of a holiday to show it some more varied terrain. On a circuit through Fife, across the Forth Bridge (with no trucks thundering past) and back along the West Lothian shore of the Forth it took in straight and smooth paved railways, potholed towns, farm tracks and gravel paths through woodlands and always felt at home.

For comfort, I'd swapped the stock WTB saddle for my own Brooks C15, but saddles are always a very personal thing. Nice to see the Touring 2's seat mounted on a setback two-bolt micro-adjust post so you can get the saddle angle spot on. The shallow and flared drop bars may not be ideal for aerodynamics but are very comfortable. The position is ideal for long rides and gives good control on rough terrain.

In fact, that's where the Touring 2 really shines. It's stable and assured even on fast, rough descents. You'd need a proper mountain bike to beat it downhill, and then you'd lose its road speed.

The Cannondale-branded handlebar is a standout design and makes a big contribution to the bike's versatility. It has a wide, straight top section for cruising, with tight bends to the hoods providing maximum space. The drops flare out a little, increasing high-speed control if you're tucked in on a decent. Flip the stem to raise the bar and you get a position in the drops that's equivalent to most bike's hoods position, giving excellent control off road and easy access to the brakes.

As well as the lowlands I headed into the hills. With a Shimano Sora triple I never quite ran out of gears, though I came close as the road reared up to 30%. Once in the hills I was tempted again to leave tarmac behind and headed off to let the Highland cows get a closer look at the bike.

They were unimpressed, but then cows always are.

I like the frame. It's a purposeful, if not elegant, design with fat down tube and well shaped top tube if you do find yourself shouldering it. The welds are particularly neat and tidy as should be expected of a Cannondale CAAD frame.

The paint job is a little curious, with the retro reflective flashes on the attractive dark blue continuing so that the whole of the inside of the fork and underside of the seat stays are reflective. It's all very well adding visibility aids, but perhaps they should be in more, well, visible locations? A baffling decision that means two places prone to muck are white.

It's a bit cheeky for a touring bike to be supplied so bare. You get no mudguards here and no pannier racks, which at a shade under £1,000 seems a bit stingy.

Cannondale UK says mudguards and rack were omitted to keep the price down, but that does mean this is a Sora-equipped bike with an (admittedly very fit-for-purpose) aluminium frame for £1,000.

There are plenty of places to bolt on a rack and mudguards though. The forks have a full set of mounts including low-rider mounts halfway up the fork. There are separate mudguard and pannier eyes at the rear and you get three sets of bottle bosses (the extra one's under the down tube) so you should never get thirsty.

With my club having a winter mudguard policy I fitted a set destined for my commuter bike and took it out one damp Sunday. While the rolling resistance of the thick, very puncture-resistant tyres made this a bit more effort than usual, on poorly maintained back roads it was rather easier to hold the line through the potholes.

I found the gear changes heavy and imprecise; it was extremely tricky to get them dialled in properly. It wasn't very obvious why, but we suspect the combination of a non-Shimano chain and quite a tight curve on the gear cable outer wasn't helping.

The test bike is fitted with Shimano BR-R317 brakes which are solid enough. I never felt a lack of control even when pointing myself down steep tracks. This is the correct spec, by the way. Cannondale and retailers list the bike as coming with Avid BB7 brakes, but the bikes are actually coming with these Shimano brakes.

The money question

I'm a little unsure whether the Touring 2 is good value. I think there's something of a premium being paid for the frame and the big name brand. While other bikes in this price range do come with Sora groupsets, there are bikes with Shimano 105, two rungs up, at under a grand. Admittedly 105 no longer has a triple option, but Tiagra does to keep the hardcore tourists happy.

The lack of mudguards and racks means the Touring 2 is more of an adventure bike in specification than a touring bike. That makes it a little hard to recommend at this price. It's a fine and very versatile bike, but I think you may get more for your money elsewhere.

Verdict

Versatile tourer, pothole-basher and adventure bike, but a little under-specced for the money

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Cannondale Touring 2

Size tested: 56cm

About the bike

State the frame and fork material and method of construction. List the components used to build up the bike.

6061 Aluminium Frame & Fork, double pass welded.

Shimano Sora 3500 9 Speed Triple Groupset.

Shimano BR317 Disc Brakes.

Maddux DC3.0 Disc Wheels.

Schwalbe MARATHON PLUS SmartGuard 700x40c tyres.

Cannondale C3 Touring Bar and C3 Alloy stem.

Tell us what the bike is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about the bike?

They say:

"This ain't no boring beast-of-burden. This is performance touring at its best . Stable and confident when loaded up with gear, yet still nimble and engaging when rolling free, these lightweight, versatile and capable machines are perfect for the modern tourer. They're ideal for bike-packing, credit card touring or imaginative commuting, so load up and get out there."

I say: perhaps a categorisation error? You could use this happily for touring, but this seems more of gravel/adventure bike- a role which it is more than suited.

Frame and fork

Overall rating for frame and fork

8/10

Tell us about the build quality and finish of the frame and fork?

Solidly and smoothly built with neat and tidy welds.

Tell us about the materials used in the frame and fork?

High spec 6061 aluminium alloy, using the same technology as the CAAD8 road bike.

Tell us about the geometry of the frame and fork?

A long wheelbase and quite long trail helps make it well behaved- and the long chainstays means plenty of clearance for large tyres with space for mudguards.

Riding the bike

Was the bike comfortable to ride? Tell us how you felt about the ride quality.

Comfort is the bike's strongest suit. The 40mm tyres and shaped chain stays contribute to a very comfortable ride, though the saddle lets it down.

Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's comfort? would you recommend any changes?

For the sake of my own behind I swapped to my own saddle for much of the testing. The tyres are superb, absorbing potholes, bumps and gravel without complaint

Rate the bike for efficiency of power transfer:

6/10

This is no racing bike.

Rate the bike for acceleration:

4/10

Heavy tyres and and robust rims are hardly a recipe for snappy acceleration.

Rate the bike for sprinting:

4/10

Why would you try to sprint on this?

Rate the bike for climbing:

6/10

It's not ultra lightweight, but the touring gears will get you up most hills in time.

The drivetrain

Rate the drivetrain for performance:

6/10

Quite heavy to shift and not always reliable in doing so

Wheels and tyres

Rate the wheels and tyres for performance:

7/10

Solid. These are wheels for going everywhere.

Controls

Your summary

Did you enjoy riding the bike? I frequently had a grin on my face riding this. So yes

Would you consider buying the bike? Ah. No.

Would you recommend the bike to a friend? Again, no, I wouldn't

Rate the bike overall for performance:

7/10

Rate the bike overall for value:

5/10

Use this box to explain your score

This is a good bike. However, for the price the specification is just a little lacking.

Overall rating: 6/10

About the tester

Age: 32 Height: 180cm Weight: 90kg

I usually ride: Kona Dew Drop My best bike is: Ribble Sportive Bianco

I've been riding for: 10-20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: commuting, club rides, sportives, General town riding, exploring

10 comments

Nice, sort of, that they've stuck with the alu fork of the T800 and T2000 models from the 90s. Those were great, in plain grey. This sparkly blue might be a heritage colour, seems sort of familiar.

But Cannondale was bought out, wasn't it, closed the factory to move production offshore? Offshore is logical but it not really being the same firm partially undermines the sentimental draw, for me.

Absence of 13£ rack and £22 (even for sks) mudguards isn't really a factor. Still, if it were my cash, at the moment I'd be drawn to the 2015 Pinnacle Arkose 4 (full carbon fork, hydraulic brakes, 105 kit, <10kg, £1060). The Cannondale will no doubt settle at £800ish in a few months.

It's only as tall as a traditional diamond frame with a quill stem all the way up, which is sort of what you would want for a touring bike.

A problem with touring bikes with threadless headsets is that (unless its a steel steerer) most manufacturers will cut the steerer to only allow 1 or 2 spacers under the stem, for safety reasons, regardless of frame size, when actually what's needed is to design the steerer so it won't break even with 40-50mm of spacers under the stem.

As a result getting the bars high enough for a 'touring' position is more of a problem for taller riders on larger frames with carbon or alloy steerers.

Nice, sort of, that they've stuck with the alu fork of the T800 and T2000 models from the 90s. Those were great, in plain grey. This sparkly blue might be a heritage colour, seems sort of familiar.

But Cannondale was bought out, wasn't it, closed the factory to move production offshore? Offshore is logical but it not really being the same firm partially undermines the sentimental draw, for me.

Absence of 13£ rack and £22 (even for sks) mudguards isn't really a factor. Still, if it were my cash, at the moment I'd be drawn to the 2015 Pinnacle Arkose 4 (full carbon fork, hydraulic brakes, 105 kit, <10kg, £1060). The Cannondale will no doubt settle at £800ish in a few months.

The company was sold a couple of times, first when making motorcycles in the early 00's put them into bankruptcy and then when the company that bailed them out wanted to cash in thier chips. However many people in the company remain that have been there since year dot and the company are still based in the same area. Moving most of the production to Asia was inevitable as the high end market moved towards carbon, most people agree that the place to get carbon made is Asia so even if the company had the same original owners, the change of manufacturing would still have happened.

Thanks for the review. I am considering the Ultegra bike ("Touring Ultimate"), and wondering if that spec would change the character of the bike (i.e., make it feel less slugglish on the road). It looks as though it has the same rims and tires as the test bike, but DT Swiss 350 series hubs.

I am looking at it as a do everything (except race) bike, primarily for commuting duty. It won't be loaded up with much weight, and I'd like something that accelerates more rapidly, and puts power down more efficiently than... my converted mountain bike commuter. I am also looking at the Specialized Diverge (have logged some miles on the Smartweld X1 build and like it a lot) and the Marin Four Corners Elite (haven't seen one yet). No shop in my area seems to stock the Cannondale Touring line, and I would be grateful for any views as to how the Ultegra bike would compare to the test bike (in terms of feeling more like a road bike than an MTB).

I have a Touring 2, bought at full price, so was a bit irritated at the price reductions. Having said that it is a really nice bike, comfortable and no sluggard. Uniquely, have not needed to change the saddle, as standard one is really comfortable, frame is a gem too and the Schwalbe Marathon tyres seem preferable to Marathon Pluses for my usage. Sora not changing as well as I was hoping but maybe the first service will sort that out. Hoping to use it on the Round the Isle of Wight Randonnee on May 1st (recommended) and expecting the granny ring to get some use on those hills, haven't needed it in the New Forest.

Forester- interesting you've got niggles with the Sora changing as well- glad it wasn't just me! As I said, saddles are deeply personal- just because it didn't work for me doesn't mean it's bad per se.

The entry-level price for carbon fiber bike is very value for money, and is converted into yuan more than 7300 yuan. Carbon fiber bike costs mainly composed of carbon fiber frame and carbon fiber wheels are two major components, such as the world's largest carbon fiber production base in Xiamen, China ekay rim produced carbon fiber rims ex-factory price is about 1000 yuan a ( Of course, the model, product specifications do not, different prices)

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